Round 3 : Week 8 Day 2 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	165.00	7,741.26	16.08	206.52
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,725.00	8,268.17	4.52	221.19
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,173.00	8,491.94	-1.83	227.25
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	1,020.00	7,186.80	13.11	191.91
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	745.50	3,744.65	-23.51	100.04
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,678.00	5,710.43	-2.26	153.33
St James Place	Long	613.00	677.50	5,626.85	14.16	150.29
Xaar	Long	774.40	818.00	3,007.66	37.99	80.41
Running profit / loss				26,509.60
Diff from prev day				2,347.33

Round 3 : Week 8 Day 1 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	165.00	6,668.90	-7.17	177.91
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,725.00	7,910.67	-9.78	211.63
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,173.00	8,650.19	18.84	231.49
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	1,020.00	6,353.82	0.00	169.66
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	745.50	4,895.89	29.42	130.80
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,678.00	5,842.43	-1.48	156.87
St James Place	Long	613.00	677.50	4,928.86	-1.74	131.65
Xaar	Long	774.40	818.00	2,179.68	-19.19	58.27
Running profit / loss				24,162.27
Diff from prev day				418.50

Round 3 : Week 7 Day 5 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	165.00	7,184.01	-8.52	191.65
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,725.00	8,768.66	-3.35	234.58
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,173.00	7,278.71	1.47	194.78
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	1,020.00	6,353.82	2.89	169.66
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	745.50	3,783.02	2.07	101.07
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,678.00	5,930.43	-0.74	159.23
St James Place	Long	613.00	677.50	5,016.11	-12.88	133.98
Xaar	Long	774.40	818.00	2,697.16	-2.49	72.11
Running profit / loss				23,743.77
Diff from prev day				-1,466.43

Round 3 : Week 7 Day 4 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	165.00	7,852.71	-9.81	209.49
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,725.00	9,072.53	3.05	242.71
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,173.00	7,173.21	-1.45	191.96
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	1,020.00	6,175.32	-3.71	164.90
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	745.50	3,706.28	-3.98	99.02
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,678.00	5,974.42	12.89	160.41
St James Place	Long	613.00	677.50	5,757.72	3.94	153.79
Xaar	Long	774.40	818.00	2,766.17	69.95	73.95
Running profit / loss				25,210.20
Diff from prev day				955.29

Mobile app coming Dec 2013

Just a quick heads up...

A good mate of mine recently started a software development company specialising in mobile apps.

With much persuasion and prompting (read many. many beers bought), I convinced him that as a debut app to showcase his company’s skills, he should develop an app for me, replicating my seriously over complicated Excel spreadsheet (that contains literally thousands of lines of code).

He eventually agreed and is currently in the process of developing an app that will mimic all the functionality I have built in to my spreadsheet that I use for tracking all my spreadbetting bets.

The app will run on Apple iPhone’s, Android phones and Windows phones and will be a demo app – you won’t actually be able to place on bet in the market.

So a quick rundown of features for phase 1:

·         Latest prices for all stocks on the LSE (delayed by 15 minutes)

·         Ability to create any number of portfolios

·         Ability to create any number of watchlists

·         Search & Browse all stocks to find the one you are looking for

·         Place a spreadbet on a stock.

·         You can choose to set up defaults (how much to invest per bet etc.) then the app will auto calculate your optimum £’s per point, stop loss, and target. It will also show you your total ‘money at risk’ per bet

·         Easily view at any time how your portfolios are doing and drill down into individual bets (bets can be edited as well)

·         Once you have placed a bet, you can drill down into it and see how the bet is performing, how the underlying stock is performing, if current volume traded is more or less than normal (I use this a lot to see if it’s a good time to buy / sell), and how close you are to your target.

In Phase 2 we will add all historical information for stocks, bets, portfolios with graphs etc.

Now I know this is not a ground breaking app, there are various demo account apps out there with the big players but as I mentioned, my mate needed a debut project to do to showcase to potential clients and I certainly needed to replace my over complicated and ‘stuck-together-with-sellotape’ spreadsheet so there it is!

So this is just a demo app and will never offer functionality to actually open / close bets, but it will be useful to test out strategies and / or track bets you have with a provider (I find the apps lacking quite a lot of info I find useful).

I had a demo of the work so far the other night and the app looks great.

We hope to have it out by the end of the year. I will keep you all updated.

(The app will be free to everyone – I’m not being charged for it so everyone wins!)

Hope you are having a good Friday!

Round 3 : Week 7 Day 3 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	167.60	8,707.14	0.86	232.29
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,740.00	8,804.41	7.08	235.54
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,150.00	7,278.71	6.98	194.78
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	1,007.00	6,413.32	12.53	171.25
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	747.00	3,859.77	4.14	103.12
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,659.00	5,292.43	10.07	142.10
St James Place	Long	613.00	676.50	5,539.60	24.51	147.96
Xaar	Long	774.40	798.00	1,627.68	-4.07	43.52
Running profit / loss				24,254.90
Diff from prev day				3,504.49

Round 3 : Week 7 Day 2 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	168.10	8,632.85	-13.06	230.31
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,730.00	8,222.05	20.24	219.96
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,144.00	6,803.96	7.50	182.08
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	1,000.00	5,699.32	13.64	152.19
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	744.26	3,706.28	-7.65	99.02
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,654.00	4,808.44	13.50	129.11
St James Place	Long	613.00	668.00	4,448.99	12.09	118.83
Xaar	Long	774.40	801.75	1,696.68	-17.87	45.36
Running profit / loss				20,750.41
Diff from prev day				1,622.05

Round 3 : Week 7 Day 1 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	170.89	9,929.36	14.53	264.89
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,685.00	6,838.19	-3.53	182.94
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,132.00	6,329.22	0.84	169.37
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	983.50	5,015.08	20.78	133.92
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	749.00	4,013.27	-2.79	107.22
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,611.00	4,236.45	-2.53	113.75
St James Place	Long	613.00	658.50	3,969.12	-11.65	106.02
Xaar	Long	774.40	804.35	2,065.82	52.83	55.23
Running profit / loss				19,128.35
Diff from prev day				1,890.14

Round 3 : Week 6 Day 5 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	167.50	8,669.99	15.32	231.30
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,708.00	7,660.43	1.42	204.93
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,131.00	6,276.47	16.67	167.96
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	969.00	4,152.34	0.00	110.88
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	750.50	4,128.40	20.09	110.29
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,616.00	4,346.45	32.09	116.70
St James Place	Long	613.00	664.50	4,492.62	22.62	120.00
Xaar	Long	774.40	794.00	1,351.68	-2.49	36.14
Running profit / loss				17,810.21
Diff from prev day				4,696.72

Round 3 : Week 6 Day 4 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	167.50	7,518.36	-0.98	200.57
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,708.00	7,553.17	-5.75	202.06
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,131.00	5,379.73	0.99	143.97
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	969.00	4,152.34	0.72	110.88
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	750.50	3,437.65	23.42	91.84
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,616.00	3,290.46	0.00	88.35
St James Place	Long	613.00	664.50	3,663.75	55.57	97.86
Xaar	Long	774.40	794.00	1,386.18	84.82	37.06
Running profit / loss				13,113.49
Diff from prev day				2,144.28

Volatility chart of my PnL so far this round

Very up and down as you can see but over the last few days moving up very nicely...

Um...

Wrong order of the posts below, but you get the idea...

Almost at £11k again at the end of day today - fantastic!

Round 3 : Week 6 Day 2 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	164.00	7,369.76	0.00	196.61
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,660.00	5,869.37	-1.26	157.02
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,073.00	4,377.49	36.07	117.15
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	946.00	3,140.86	12.82	83.87
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	720.50	2,478.29	35.73	66.21
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,650.00	4,918.44	-3.45	132.06
St James Place	Long	613.00	626.00	1,613.40	42.33	43.09
Xaar	Long	774.40	790.00	1,075.69	0.00	28.76
Running profit / loss				7,575.15
Diff from prev day				2,398.65

Round 3 : Week 6 Day 3 Trade Log

The trade logs from the last three days. 

Good week so far, up to almost £11k today. Clawing back those lost profits...

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	164.00	7,592.66	3.02	202.56
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,660.00	8,014.35	36.55	214.40
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,073.00	5,326.98	21.69	142.55
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	946.00	4,122.60	31.26	110.08
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	720.50	2,785.29	12.39	74.41
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,650.00	3,290.46	-33.10	88.35
St James Place	Long	613.00	626.00	2,355.02	45.97	62.90
Xaar	Long	774.40	790.00	750.01	-30.28	20.05
Running profit / loss				10,969.21
Diff from prev day				3,394.05

Round 3 : Week 6 Day 1 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	164.00	7,369.76	-1.98	196.61
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,660.00	5,944.45	22.92	159.03
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,073.00	3,217.01	19.61	86.09
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	946.00	2,783.86	-6.96	74.34
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	720.50	1,825.93	-2.06	48.78
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,650.00	5,094.44	2.66	136.79
St James Place	Long	613.00	626.00	1,133.53	85.81	30.28
Xaar	Long	774.40	790.00	1,075.69	-26.08	28.76
Running profit / loss				5,176.50
Diff from prev day				1,516.50

Round 3 : Week 5 Day 5 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	164.40	7,518.36	2.02	200.57
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,629.00	4,836.22	7.13	129.38
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,063.00	2,689.52	18.61	71.97
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	949.50	2,992.11	18.92	79.90
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	721.00	1,864.30	4.29	49.81
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,644.00	4,962.44	36.24	133.24
St James Place	Long	613.00	620.00	610.04	1,476.13	16.29
Xaar	Long	774.40	795.50	1,455.18	-14.23	38.90
Running profit / loss				3,660.00
Diff from prev day				3,177.93

Round 3 : Week 5 Day 4 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	164.00	7,369.76	1.02	196.61
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,620.00	4,514.47	31.16	120.77
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,055.00	2,267.52	-14.00	60.68
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	941.50	2,516.12	13.41	67.19
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	720.00	1,787.55	6.88	47.76
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,584.00	3,642.46	122.04	97.80
St James Place	Long	613.00	612.50	-44.33	95.77	-1.18
Xaar	Long	774.40	799.00	1,696.68	8.85	45.36
Running profit / loss				482.07
Diff from prev day				4,333.50

Round 3 : Week 5 Day 3 Trade Log

Apologies for not updating my blog more often, it's just been a crazy couple of weeks!

As you can see though, things are looking very bleak at the moment. Drama in the US is weighing heavily and I'm back in the red. 

I could close all my positions and wait but as an eternal optimist, I really do think that markets have had so much bad news lately that they are poised for any good news at all. 

I'm holding and hoping...

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	164.40	7,295.46	-3.91	194.63
Aveva Group	Long	2,450.00	2,471.00	314.67 (SOLD @ 2,464.50)	-74.60	8.44
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,590.00	3,441.98	-20.61	92.08
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,065.00	2,636.77	66.70	70.56
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	942.00	2,218.62	-5.09	59.24
Jupiter Fund Management	Long	357.39	353.90	-491.49 (SOLD @ 354.11)	-304.46	-13.12
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	730.00	1,672.43	-47.23	44.68
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,550.00	1,640.48	-37.11	44.05
St James Place	Long	613.00	603.50	-1,047.69	-378.79	-27.98
Xaar	Long	774.40	792.49	1,558.68	9.71	41.67
Running profit / loss				-3,851.43
Diff from prev day				-5,066.65

My stock picking criteria

So here is my list of stock picking criteria that I have been asked about so many times.

Lucky number 13 - 13 criteria that I stick by!

Note: Please exercise caution when reading this post and using these criteria, I accept no responsibility for the use of these criteria.

Please DYOR (Do Your Own Research) whenever you trade anything.

1. EPS Annual Growth % - greater than 15
2. EPS Growth Qtr on Qtr % - greater than 5
3. Sales Annual Growth % - greater than 10
4. ROE % - greater than 15%
5. Market cap - greater than £50m
6. Current price greater than %5 of 52 week low
7. Net debt < 3 times operating profit
8. Not a collective investment stock
9. Not AIM listed
10. Positive net income
11. Positive operating cash flow
12. Decrease in leverage (compared to previous year)
13. Increase in liquidity (compared to last year)

And that’s it. This system works very well in a bull market (as those who have followed my blog will know). It doesn’t however work very well in sideways (like the one we are in at the moment) or bear markets.

I have made my profits spread betting which is hugely risky and certainly not for everyone. My PnL can jump £5k or more on any given day so it is certainly interesting but can also be heartattack material if your risk appetite doesn’t suit the game.

Any comments, thoughts?

I hope you all have a good weekend - I’m off to watch the final of the rugby championship!

Round 3 : Week 4 Day 3 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	165.80	8,038.45	4.34	214.45
Aberdeen Asset Management	Long	373.27	374.00	104.05	-86.63	2.77
Aveva Group	Long	2,450.00	2,597.00	3,196.51	-16.00	85.69
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,568.00	2,655.49	4.21	71.04
Hargreaves Lansdown	Long	1,042.60	981.50	-3,132.04	-11.90	-83.74
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,049.00	1,951.03	-2.63	52.21
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	946.09	2,789.19	0.19	74.48
Jupiter Fund Management	Long	357.39	369.60	1,827.72	6.08	48.78
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	723.50	2,056.17	-15.73	54.93
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,579.00	3,532.46	-17.47	94.85
St James Place	Long	613.00	617.50	391.92	-52.68	10.47
Xaar	Long	774.40	814.94	2,796.85	-27.08	74.77
Running profit / loss				7,347.23
Diff from prev day				-3,724.34

Round 3 : Week 4 Day 2 Trade Log

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	164.90	7,704.11	-7.16	205.53
Aberdeen Asset Management	Long	373.27	378.70	778.49	1.88	20.76
Aveva Group	Long	2,450.00	2,625.00	3,805.50	18.25	102.02
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,565.00	2,548.24	-12.30	68.17
Hargreaves Lansdown	Long	1,042.60	988.00	-2,798.91	13.47	-74.83
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,050.00	2,003.77	35.73	53.62
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	946.00	2,783.86	2.18	74.34
Jupiter Fund Management	Long	357.39	368.90	1,722.90	19.78	45.98
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	728.50	2,439.92	-19.09	65.18
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,613.00	4,280.45	23.48	114.93
St James Place	Long	613.00	622.50	828.16	376.50	22.12
Xaar	Long	774.40	830.00	3,835.65	135.65	102.54
Running profit / loss				11,071.57
Diff from prev day				4,057.55

Round 3 : Week 4 Day 1 Trade Log

Down down down !

Markets heading south again, I was at £2k profit at one stage yesterday - very choppy at the moment, considering I was over £20k just over a week ago !

Spread betting is certainly not for the fainthearted. (see below for my profit graph since I started Round 3)

Stock	Long/Short	Entry Price	Latest Price	Current profit/loss	% on prev day	% on total risk
888 Holdings	Long	144.16	166.50	8,298.50	2.76	221.39
Aberdeen Asset Management	Long	373.27	378.60	764.14	-60.92	20.38
Aveva Group	Long	2,450.00	2,598.00	3,218.26	-6.92	86.28
Carr's Milling Industries	Long	1,493.70	1,575.00	2,905.74	14.03	77.73
Hargreaves Lansdown	Long	1,042.60	979.50	-3,234.53	-31.18	-86.48
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Long	1,012.00	1,040.00	1,476.28	21.75	39.51
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group	Long	899.20	945.00	2,724.36	9.57	72.75
Jupiter Fund Management	Long	357.39	367.00	1,438.38	-23.80	38.39
Playtec Limited	Long	696.70	736.00	3,015.54	61.75	80.56
Schroders	Long	2,418.40	2,576.00	3,466.46	-8.69	93.07
Sepura	Long	152.63	145.50	-3,711.61 (SOLD @ 142.06)	-128.29	-99.01
St James Place	Long	613.00	615.00	173.80	-71.51	4.64
Xaar	Long	774.40	798.00	1,627.68	26.90	43.52
Running profit / loss				7,014.03
Diff from prev day				-2,921.94